"NASA's Psyche Mission: Exploring an Ancient Metal-Rich Asteroid"

NASA is preparing to launch a spacecraft on a six-year mission to explore an asteroid named Psyche, which is believed to be largely composed of metal. This mission will provide valuable insights into the formation of planets with metal-rich cores, including Earth. Psyche, about the size of Massachusetts, is expected to have craters ringed with iron spikes and metal cliffs. The spacecraft will send back images once it reaches the asteroid in 2029. This mission aims to understand the metal core of Earth and other planets, as well as explore the diversity of metal-rich bodies in the universe. Unlike previous missions, this one will not return a sample of the asteroid.